TO HIS VERY WORTHY AND MUCH HONORED FRIEND, MR. IZAAK WALTON, UPON HIS EXCELLENT LIFE OF MR. GEORGE HERBERT. I. HEAVEN'S youngest son, its Benjamin, A female muse, as were the Nine ; An essence male, with angels his companions, shine. Who Lucifer in triumph led : For, as in chains the monster sank to hell, And tumbling headlong down the precipice fell By him first taught, "How art thou fallen, thou morning star?" they said, Too fondly then, we have fancied him a maid: II. Thus 'twas in heaven: this, Poesy's sex and age; And, when he thence to our lower world came down, He chose a form more like his own, And Jesse's youngest son inspired with holy rage; The sprightly shepherd felt unusual fire, And up he took his tuneful lyre; He took it up, and struck 't, and his own soft touches did admire. Thou, Poesy, on him didst bestow Thy choicest gift, an honor showed before to none; And to prepare his way to th' Hebrew throne, Gav'st him thy empire and dominion; The happy land of verse, where flow Rivers of milk, and woods of laurel grow ; Wherewith thou didst adorn his brow, And mad'st his first, more flourishing, and triumph ant crown. Assist me thy great prophet's praise to sing, David, the poet's and blessed Israel's king: And with the dancing echo, let the mountains ring! Then, on the wings of some auspicious wind, Let his great name from earth be raised on high, And in the starry volume of the sky A lasting record find: Be with his mighty psaltery joined ; Which, taken long since up into the air, And called the Harp, makes a bright constellation there. III. Worthy it was to be translated hence, And there, in view of all, exalted hang : How great the mighty Herbert's skill had been: But then, my friend, there had been left for you That, though he did not want his bays, For in this book they meet again, as in one heaven they love. BENSTEAD, April 3. SAM. WOODFORDE, D. D. IN VITAM GEORGII HERBERTI, AB ISAACO WALTONO SCRIPTAM. O QUAM erubesco cum tuam vitam lego, Speculum sacerdotale, tu qualem piis Tu quale sanctitatis elementis bonæ, Exemplar illud grande qui solus fuit. * Sic Christum solens vocavit quoties ejus mentionem fecit. Sibique sanctos, quos facit, servet suos Urge ergo pensum; et interim scias velim, JACOB. DUPORT, S. T. P. Decanus Petr. |